Looking to attract a younger, hipper clientele, the Oak Brook-based burger giant is betting that technology will help to draw them in

In a bid to draw the young and tech-savvy into its restaurants, McDonald's Corp. has begun pilot testing a new ATM-style device called the Blaze Net that allows customers to buy music and ring tones, print photos and surf the Web at the restaurant.

Open since May 16, the new flagship restaurant near the Oakbrook Center shopping mall combines several high-tech gadgets yet to be seen in more conventional McDonald's eateries. The gadgets complement such unusual food offerings as lattes in the McCafe section of the store that is more reminiscent of a Starbucks than a burger joint.

"It is clearly unique and not a traditional restaurant," said Bill Whitman, a McDonald's spokesman. "But it is a peek at the future of McDonald's through the use of technology, innovative design and contemporary space."

What is compelling, said Whitman, is the fact that the new restaurant "gives our customers the ability to do things at McDonald's they can't do at other places. Quite honestly, with some of the media centers, you don't even need a credit or debit card. You can pay with cash and download your favorite songs onto your own CD."

While it is too early for Whitman to say how many restaurants will add Blaze Net media centers, he said, "so far the customer feedback has been overwhelmingly positive."

The pilot test employs four remote computer screens at sit-down stations linked to two Blaze Net media production centers that spit out CDs and pictures. The test is expected to be expanded once the initial 60-to-90-day period is completed, said Jonathon First, chief marketing officer for Digital Transaction Machines, the New York-based company that supplies the equipment.

"The first step in the U.S. is Oak Brook," said First. "Then we are going to start, I believe, the Southeast. Probably West Virginia and Florida are the next two testing steps."

The pilot test of the technology follows the initial introduction of similar equipment in Munich in November. That is now being rolled out into many of McDonald's 1,250 German restaurants, said First.

"We provide digital merchandise, whether it's music on CDs that can be delivered in under 2 minutes, photos in 6 seconds apiece produced professionally, or ring tones that are instant," he said. "We also have the capability for ticketing, whether it's live events or movies, and eventually we are going to have DVDs and videos as well."

Ideal for laptop, iPod and PDA users and even customers with little or no Web experience, the new Oak Brook flagship restaurant promises to be a live testing ground not only for technological ideas but also new menu items, said Whitman.

Already on sale is such fare as honey-wheat chicken sandwiches with ranch dressing and a host of cafe favorites not typically found at a McDonald's.

The 10,500-square-foot restaurant is more than twice the size of a traditional 4,000-square-foot store and comes with outdoor seating for 60 and a flashy two-lane drive-through with advertising boards that change as you drive along.

The restaurant, with Wi-Fi internet access, multiple flat-screen TVs and video monitors upstairs and down, is dedicated to Charlie Bell, the former McDonald's chief executive who died of cancer in January, just eight months after becoming the youngest ever to get the job.

Missing from the restaurant is the classic red mansard roof that typically tops most restaurants. Also missing is the large, gold letter M.

Instead, McDonald's has built a natural stone and terra-cotta-colored brick building, with a neatly curving yellow roof.

Insiders say the new restaurant cost upward of $10 million to build--almost as much as spent to rebuild the flagship Rock 'n' Roll McDonald's in downtown Chicago.

That may be because the Oak Brook project features many more technology-driven ideas as well the McCafe coffee drinking and lounging concept pioneered by Bell in 1993, when he was head of McDonald's Australian arm.

It also draws heavily on the type of young, hip look and feel that Bell pushed the chain to adopt several years ago in an attempt to produce more innovative marketing that targeted a younger audience.

Such moves led to the "I'm lovin' it" advertising campaign and a renaissance at the world's largest restaurant chain, which saw global sales in April jump 2.8 percent--4.7 percent in the U.S.--the 24th straight monthly increase. Last year, revenue jumped 11 percent, to $19 billion, at its 30,000-plus restaurants.

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New-look McDonald's

Some of the features at the flagship McDonald's restaurant near the Oakbrook Center mall:

- ATM-style Blaze Net kiosks that allow customers to buy digital music and cell-phone ring tones, as well as print photos

- Wi-Fi wireless Internet access

- Web-surfing stations

- Large-screen TVs

- Cashless payment systems

- A 10,500-square-foot space (more than twice the size of a traditional store), with outdoor seating for 60 and a two-lane drive-through

- Fare such as honey-wheat chicken sandwiches on the main menu

- A McCafe with specialty coffees, desserts, pastries and other items not typically found at McDonald's